It is with great pleasure that we, the Southeastern Playes, open up our 2021-2022 season with this landmark production of “All Together Now.” This worldwide, global event will reopen scholastic and community theaters all over the world after our year and half long struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
This show is all about love, joy, community, and coming together. Over the past year and half we have all been separated. Art, storytelling, and music have always been how we cope and heal from trauma. Now, all together now, let us sit back, revel, reflect, and enjoy this wonderful collaboration.
It has been a joy to truly consult and collaborate with our students and staff on this labor of love. You will see and hear our students take ownership of choreography, musical direction, lighting, video production, and sound management. We have all come together now to bring you this opening show of our season, and last show in this space. What a fitting way to end our time in this black box theater as we look forward to the opening of our new arts center in the winter!
Enjoy!
~Mr. James Fernandes
In my classroom, there is a picture of our production of THE CRUCIBLE. It is framed and signed by the whole cast. It is one of the most special things I have received in my time as a teacher.
That show represented a real turn around for the program. We started to move our content in a different direction and worked towards building the foundation for the program it is now. I rebranded the program the "Southeastern Players" and made a challenge to the students with every year, "How do we step things up?" Each year we would challenge ourself to build onto the program.
We have made some amazing steps forward, into evolving the program. We have built a strong team of creative individuals, who have dedicated themselves to providing a safe and supportive environement for all students who come into the space. We have produced a collection of mature shows which challenge the students to give them the opportunity to grow as performers and individuals. It was all done in this hobbled together space.
Once a gym but for me, a make-shift theater. A space we built, the students and us - we constructed sets and painted them (and sadly, sometimes the floors); we staged shows and built characters; we celebrated our accomplishments and built a real community in this space. It is sad for me to think that this will be the last major show we will produce in this space. Very soon, a new theater door will open for our program and new possibilities. That is the easy answer to my earlier question, "How do we step things up?" Yet, for a moment, I want to recognize and respect the space we are in now.
It has provided this program with so much and has been an integral to the creation of this program as anything else. It was our home for years and we owe it for providing us crazy artists the chance to perform. As James said above, it is a fitting end - not a grand show but an intimate sendoff to a familiar space.
Cheers and thank you all for your support,
Mr. Cross
